A number of activities involve maintaining a record of personal scores which are subsequently significant. For example, several recent scores turned in by a golfer are processed to provide his current handicap. In that regard, common practice involves rather elaborate systems for computing and preserving records for individual players at their associated golf clubs. Traditionally, after each round of golf, each player's score is supposed to be accurately recorded for entry into the records and computation of his handicap. Periodically, a number of such scores are used to compute each player's handicap, the figures usually being posted.
Pursuing the above example, it is noteworthy that player handicaps are quite significant in golf not only in arranging play but additionally in determining the outcome of such play. In view of the importance of a player's individual handicap, economic or egotistical reasons may well tempt a player to engage in practices that will modify his true handicap. Such practices might be selective failures to turn in scores or the reporting of modified scores. Also, among certain players, a jesting attitude often prevails in many games, providing an incentive for players to modify the score records or handicaps of a fellow player. In view of these considerations, a need exists for an effective, economical, and convenient system for reliably providing fresh score or handicap information.
As suggested, situations similar to that described above also exist in other sports, as for example in bowling. The volume and complexity of calculations involved in these sports often result in the use of a computing service to develop the desired data. It is to be appreciated that normally, the practice involves some inconvenience, expense and delay. As a consequence, a need exists for an expeditious and economical system for maintaining player scoring data, as handicaps, that are current, accurate, and readily available.
In general, the present invention may be embodied for use with devices in the form of plastic identification cards, for example, bearing a recording medium as in the form of a magnetic stripe. The magnetic stripe may be of high energy material with the consequence that the record is durable and reliable. In the use of the system hereof in a golfing application, for example, the stripe records a player's handicap which is maintained current in accordance with his games of play. Additionally, the system incorporates secure facilities for improving the reliability of his indicated handicap.
Structurally, the system of the present invention incorporates apparatus for processing the record device or identification card bearing a recording medium, e.g. magnetic stripe. Specifically, information indicating score data, identification data, and reliability data is sensed from the card to accommodate any of a variety of operations. For example, in a golf application, the system may simply manifest the current handicap of the cardholder. Alternatively, the system may receive the score resulting from recent play, then process such score along with other data from the card to provide a fresh handicap. Embodiments of the system may also reveal a history of several recent scores. In the disclosed embodiment of the present invention, the system incorporates further structure for imprinting scorecards with current handicaps and further incorporates security structure for minimizing efforts to tamper with handicap data.